Sarah Graham - Counselling

I am trained to work with those who have gone through trauma in their early years.
Complex PTSD develops in response to chronic traumatisation over the course of months or years. The trauma can include emotional, physical or sexual abuse or emotional neglect.
Complex PTSD means the person can feel easily overwhelmed and less resilient to life’s issues. They may worry extensively about what may happen, they may have nightmares and flashbacks to the trauma, and they may feel depressed or hopeless about the future. They can also be irritable and quick to anger and may have problems sleeping.
Read more at:
https://sarahgrahamcounselling.com/2021/04/complex-post-traumatic-stress-disorder/

We will often carry feelings of shame from our childhood into adulthood.
Shame is a survival response which has many negative self-destructive thoughts attached such as, ‘I am no good, nobody likes me, I will never amount to anything, no one will ever love me, I will never achieve anything.’
When young, shame can make us become focused on being compliant and a ‘good child.’
Shame and submission are procedurally learned (automatic and unconscious) adaptive behaviours.

A person with a panic disorder will often have overwhelming feelings of stress and anxiety which will at times become full blown panic attacks. Panic attacks can be frightening and can feel embarrassing. A fear of having panic attacks can develop. Therapy can help to deal with the root causes and reduce panic attacks.

Anxiety is a feeling of unease, worry or fear, that can be mild or severe. Some people find it hard to control their worries and this can often affect their daily lives. Having issues with anxiety for more than six months can mean that you have Generalised Anxiety Disorder (GAD).
GAD is a common condition which is estimated to affect up to 5% of the UK population. It affects women more than men, and the condition is more common in people from the ages of 35 to 59.
Many people who have had difficult early life experiences may find that they feel very anxious at times. Some people find it hard to control their worries and their feelings of anxiety are constant.

Depression can occur for a variety of reasons and can range from mild to severe. It may be caused by a specific event such as a bereavement, a loss of a relationship, a divorce, illness, career worries or a redundancy. Some people may find a combination of factors lead them into a downward spiral and they find themselves in a depression and cannot see or find a way out of it.

At times, we can feel 'stuck' in life. Cognitive Behavioural Therapy can help us to interrupt our patterns of detrimental thinking and behaviours and retrain our brains into ways of thinking that are more helpful to us.